2 Samuel 10:6–19

⁶Then the sons of Ammon saw that ^athey had become odious to David. So the sons of Ammon sent and ^bhired the Arameans of ^cBeth-rehob and the ^dArameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of ^eMaacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men.

⁷Then David heard of it and sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men.

⁸And the sons of Ammon came out and arranged themselves for battle ^aat the entrance of the gate of the city. But the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of ^bTob and Maacah were by themselves in the field.

David Defeats Ammon and Aram

⁹Then Joab saw that ¹the battle was set against him from the front and from the rear. So he chose from all the choice men of Israel, and they arranged themselves to meet the Arameans.

¹⁰But the remainder of the people he put in the hand of Abishai his brother; and he arranged them to meet the sons of Ammon.

¹¹And he said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall save me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to save you.

¹²“^aBe strong, and let us show strength for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and ^bmay Yahweh do what is good in His sight.”

¹³So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Arameans, and ^athey fled before him.

¹⁴Now the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled. So they also fled before Abishai and came into the city. ^aThen Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵Then the Arameans saw that they had been ¹defeated by Israel. So they gathered themselves together.

^16aAnd Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the ¹River, and they came to Helam; and ^bShobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer ²led them.

¹⁷And it was told to David, so he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans arranged themselves to meet David and fought against him.

¹⁸But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the Arameans ^a700 charioteers and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there.

¹⁹Then all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were ¹defeated by Israel. So ^athey made peace with Israel and served them. And the Arameans were afraid to save the sons of Ammon anymore.